CHAPTER V.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE CLASSIFICATION, GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION, STRUCTURE, AND AGE OF ANCIENT SCOTTISH LAKE-DWELLINGS.

Manner of treating the subject--Division into Five Sections--SECTION I. _Classification and Geographical Distribution of Ancient Scottish Lake-dwellings_,--Table showing their distribution in Scotland--No permanent value attached to Table--Indication as to their prevalence in South-west of Scotland. SECTION II. _Historical and Traditional Phenomena associated with the area of their distribution._ SECTION III. _Structure of Wooden Islands_--Neglected by previous writers--Mechanical skill displayed by the Crannog-builders--Mode of Structure. SECTION IV. _Topographical changes in the Lake-dwelling area during or subsequent to the period of their development_,--Supposed change in climate and its effects--Increase of Lake Silt--Subsidence of the Crannogs. SECTION V. _Chronological, Social, and other indications derived from the Relics_,--Discoveries of Relics confined almost to the Counties of Ayr and Wigtown--Roman and Celtic elements exhibited by Relics--General _facies_ of Relics similar to ordinary Celtic remains in Scotland and Ireland--Canoes not necessarily belonging to Prehistoric remains--Difficulty of drawing reliable conclusion from the Pottery of the Crannogs--Crannogs in South-west of Scotland were used as _safes_--Their occupiers lived on the produce of agriculture rather than that of the chase--Came to an end as a system of defence upon the conquest of the country by the Saxons--Relics from the Lake-dwellings similar to those from the Victoria Cave, Yorkshire, and the Borness Cave, Kirkcudbrightshire--No evidence as to the age of Crannogs beyond the limits of the ancient Kingdom of Strathclyde Pages 240-288